(ON HOLD) People's actions can't always be painted as black and white. Raven's always understood that. But when a certain anti-hero turns to her for help, she begins to understand the best decision isn't always the right one.

Concolor44: Just a little question (and I have the same question for the writers of the cartoon and for just about every other author who has taken a stab at Rae/RedX fics): How come Raven didn't just phase out of the trap? She can melt through walls, emerge from the ground, teleport long distances. Why didn't she? Does the 'X' temporarily block that ability, sort of like Ding Dong Daddy's neutralizer ray? I haven't heard that explained anywhere, and it kind of bothers me.That being said ... I LOVE your interpretation of Red X! He's real and he's here. And he is Not To Be Messed With.Looking forward eagerly to the rest of this story.

Well MY reason is because if it's sticky enough to KEEP her there, she's either going to have to teleport with the building, or loose some clothes xD Glad you like it though.

discb: This looks like it will b funn.

Hmm

TehMaskedWarrior: Ah... I love RedX... Lovely story! Keep It Up.

I like him too - hence why I'm attempting this.

Ranger of the Forest: Nice. I like a good Raven/Red-X story. Keep up the good work.Ranger of the Forest.

I will try to!

Dr Whitey: Not going to lie, I was a bit hessentint to read this one. I tend to lean to Raven and Jinx as well so this was all question mark for me...unsuprising you have done quite well (saying that is was just "quite well" is simply because I dont read red X stuf...not my fav person to rear about. Think that it just becuse he was just never really fleshed out in the show but I dont know

Everyone has their own tastes :) Perhaps you might learn to like X though :P

Raven refilled the kettle before slamming it down with quite a bit of force, making sure the base was still plugged in before she switched it on and waited for the water to boil. She tried to focus on the task of preparing her tea, but she couldn't quite let go of her feelings of anger and irritation, her thoughts making her movements stiff and jerky as she yanked open a cupboard door and reached for one of her mugs. The common room doors opened and Robin walked into the room. It didn't take him long to figure out something was bothering the empath.

"How'd the patrol go?"

Raven glanced back at him a moment – the only indication she gave that told her leader she hadn't heard him enter the room – before going back to her tea, searching through another cupboard until she came across a box of white tea and jasmine. "For the most part, it was as uneventful as ever."

"Because by the time I figured out it was him, it was a bit too late for that."

"What was he after?"

"I'm not sure." She leaned back against the kitchen counter, frowning at the air above Robin's right shoulder. "He was chasing someone."

"Who?"

She turned her frown onto her leader, quickly irritated by his questions. "It was a chase. I didn't exactly get a chance to stop him and ask for his life story."

Robin's brow twitched slightly, otherwise he ignored her remark. "Was he a civilian?"

Raven shrugged. "I think so. However I doubt he's a law abiding civilian. He was the one who attracted my attention in the first place, not Red X."

"Any idea why X was after him?"

"No. The man ran off while I was fighting Red X, then X escaped. Obviously he wasn't going to willingly part with any information or explanations. He seemed pretty insistent about catching this guy though."

"Some argument over territory, maybe?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe a deal that wasn't upheld. Red X is known for doing commissions. Maybe his …client didn't pay up?"

Her leader nodded. "It might not be anything; however I want you to keep an eye out for him on your patrols, and I'll tell the others to do the same. He might be up to something big."

"Big?" Raven asked sceptically. "Red X isn't exactly a schemer. He's just out for himself and the adrenaline rush that comes with being an idiot."

"Never underestimate the enemy."

"I'm not. He's a skilled fighter, and an even better thief, considering he managed to get the suit in the first place. But he isn't Slade. He's a talented thief, but that's all he is."

Robin sighed, crossing his arms as his face pulled down into a frown, leaning back against one of the cabinets. Raven used the moment of silence to fill her mug with water from the kettle. "How'd he lose you?"

"How do you think?" Raven muttered, avoiding looking at her leader as she put the kettle back in its place.

"He teleported?"

"No. I ran afoul of those weapons you so kindly gave him."And then he let me go. She glanced round, noticing the scowl on his face. "Sorry. I'm just – "

"– in a foul mood because X managed to give you the slip?" Robin interrupted.

"… Yeah."

"It irritates me too. I've wondered more than once if he's been trained by someone."

"I'm going to assume that 'someone' doesn't refer to a random person, but someone you know." She took a sip of her tea. "Are we talking super villain or …?"

"Would one of these people give us a list of names if we asked for it?"

"Probably not."

Raven smiled slightly. "Of course." She cleared her throat before adding, "About Batman … Rumour has it he's got a new side kick of sorts."

"Rumour? Or an eavesdropped video call?"

She had the grace to blush, her eyes dropping to stare at the mug in her hands, embarrassed. "It wasn't intentional. You were leaking emotion through the bond we share, and I had gone to check you were okay. In my defence, the door had been left open, and you weren't trying to be quiet. I left as soon as I realised, but..."

She didn't see Robin's small smile. " – you heard enough to figure out what was going on?"

Raven shrugged. "Well, I don't know about that …"

"How much did you hear?"

"That he wants you to consider changing your alias, and passing the title of Robin onto this kid he's currently training."

"What do you think?"

She looked up from her mug. "Excuse me?"

"What do you think? Should I put my days as the 'Boy Wonder' behind me?"

"I think you outlived those days a few years ago, as Starfire would surely be able to confirm." Raven smirked slightly.

Robin groaned quietly and shook his head in slight exasperation. "If I had wanted a joke for an answer, I would have gone to Beast Boy."

"My apologies." She took another sip of her drink before shrugging. "I don't really know what to say. On the one hand, passing the title down … The persona of Batman is a symbol of sorts no? His identity is unknown – to most – therefore he could be anyone, or more importantly anyone could be him. Were you not trained to take his place should it be needed so Batman would continue, even without the original man? Why shouldn't Robin be the same? But it is a personal decision to make. Robin has been half of who you are for many years now, if not most of your life so far. Could you just walk away from that?"

"That's not an answer. That's just regurgitating my own thoughts."

She smiled slightly. "Then speak with one of the others, but we can't make this decision for you."

"I forget how infuriating you can be. Would you drop the identity for a new one, in my position?"

"Why? Do you know any empathic, Demon Halflings with Trigon for a father looking for the job?"

"Just answer the question."

"No. I can't. I don't know what I'd do, because it isn't a situation I can relate to. I am Raven. Always was, and always will be. I don't have a life outside the Titans to protect."

"You're meant to be helping me out here. You're not doing a very good job."

"What do you want me to say? Ignore Batman; you keep being Robin because you had the name first? Keep it because it's your right to?"

"… No."

"Okay. So what if I said you should drop the name; burn the costume, and move on; give someone else a chance at being Robin. Would you listen to me? Of course not. Because it's not my place to tell you what you should or shouldn't do."

"You don't know that. I might listen."

Raven shook her head slightly and moved away from the counter. "I'm going to get some rest before all of Jump City's criminals decide it would be a perfect day to wake up early and attack the streets." She moved towards the door, but Robin called her back.

"Your honest opinion, Raven. I won't hold it against you. Or tell you to go stuff yourself."

She laughed slightly. "You don't want to hear my opinion."

"Say I did."

She glanced back at him. "Fine. Change the name, or don't. I couldn't care less – it has no impact upon myself. But even if you do keep Robin for your alias, consider redesigning your costume, will you? I can't say the style of 'traffic light' is particularly flattering for anyone. Or intimidating, for that matter."

"Was that a serious answer, or another attempt at a joke?"

Raven didn't answer, other than to smile at him, before she left the common room.

The empath quickly ducked, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder and see where the car landed, keeping her attention on their opponent instead. The past few years hadn't really changed Adam Parker. Otherwise known as Adonis, the young man was as skinny and arrogant as ever … once you peeled him out of his mechanical suits. His current suit had been updated from their last conflict. It was bigger than before, making the pathetic criminal tower over them all at a height of ten feet. The suit, in its customary colour of red, was too big for its own good, and made Adonis's movements slow and clumsy. Even so the titans were struggling to find the suit's weak spot, and until they had found it, getting Adam out of the suit was impossible without causing the man grievous harm.

Raven was starting to think she didn't care.

A green bull charged at the criminal as he slowly made his way over to another car. The attack was ineffective, and Beast Boy bounced back off the metal without even leaving a scratch. He shifted back into his human form as he came tumbling across the road, sitting up when he came to a stop and rubbing the top of his head.

They'd found him trying to break into the local mall. The fact that the idiot had tried to enter through a door too small for his suit meant many possible civilian casualties had been avoided, and also meant Adam was effectively trapped between the mall and the Titans. Not that he would have been able to run anywhere.

Raven stepped forward as Adonis reached for the car, her arms flying forward and dark energy encasing the vehicle. It stuck to the road when he tried to lift if from the ground, but it took a great effort on Raven's part. Angered, Adonis released the car, before bringing both his fists down onto it. Raven was forced back a few steps as the blow shattered the dark energy surrounding the car, and the criminal's fists continued down, going through the roof.

He tried to step back, but found himself stuck, the car coming with him. As he paused, puzzling over how to get the vehicle off him, a small red disk flew through the air towards them, the disk hitting the front of the car, and exploding. A moment later there was a second, larger explosion as something in the engine caught fire. A second disk froze the car, and one swing into the road from Adonis shattered it, freeing the car from his wrists. As he turned to face Robin, enraged, the Titans caught sight of his face. The only part of his body left unprotected, the flames from the car had reddened the left side of his face. The empath had expected as much to happen, and was still surprised over her leader's choice of disks. Unlike a lot of their opponents, Adam Parker was just human. That meant it was general practice to pull up short with their attacks.

Raven could feel the man's pain, and see his right brow twitching as he tried to ignore it. He pushed forward, moving towards Robin as fast as he could in the suit, bringing his right fist back when CLASH!

Cyborg was forced to retreat as part of the wrist cuffs to Adam's suit fell away from his arm onto the road. The loss of weight from his arm must have been significant, because he stumbled, thrown off balance. More of his suit crumbled away, and Raven realised what Robin had done. By igniting the car, he had warmed up part of the criminal's suit, and quickly freezing it after had caused the metal at the joints near his hands to expand and contract too quickly, cracking it. Now they just had to get the rest of the suit off.

Adonis hit the ground, the weight of the mechanical suit stopping him from being able to regain his balance, and Raven quickly acted, peeling the damaged metal around his wrist away from him and the rest of the suit with her dark energy. Starfire threw several starbolts at Adonis, Cyborg backing her up with his sonic cannon to keep the man on the ground as Beast Boy moved round, shifted into a T-Rex, and tried to pull away more of the metal with his teeth. The criminal swung his free arm and it pummelled into the green dinosaur, knocking him away.

Robin pulled out another freeze disk and moved so he had a good shot, before saying, "Give up Adonis."

He tried to sit up again, but Starfire flew down, putting her hands against the suit's breast-plate and keeping him down with her alien strength. "We can end this now, or we can injure you more, forcing you out of the suit. It is your choice."

Adam glared at Starfire and tried to hit her with his fist that remained protected, but Raven brought up a shield, deflecting the weak blow.

"Nobody can beat Adonis." He roared as he tried to struggle again.

"You look pretty beat to me." Cyborg replied, dulling down the force of his sonic cannon before aiming it at the man's unprotected face. "We could always knock you unconscious. Power down the suit, man. You're not gettin' out of this one."

The defiant scowl faded from Adam's face as he realised the truth of the Titan's words, and there was a hissing sound, like air had been released from a high pressure point before the front of the suit started to open. Starfire pulled back, letting the metal fold away, and the man tried to dash forward, scrambling out of the damaged suit and dashing forward. A rope of dark energy appeared and shot forward, wrapping round the man's feet and tightening, tripping him up and sending him sprawling. Adam cried out as his burnt cheek scraped across the road, bits of grit cutting into the tender skin. Raven kept the chain of energy wrapped round his feet until Robin had handcuffed the criminal.

Robin yanked him to his feet, grabbing Adam's arm to make sure he didn't try to run again. "Who built your suit?"

"I did, stupid." The man replied quickly, and proudly.

Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven gathered round them ready for the routine questioning Robin had put into place a few months ago, in hopes of being able to shut down Jump's criminals' contacts. The leader of the titans was hoping to cut down the rate of crime in the city by shutting down any 'helpful' contacts the city's criminals had. Theoretically without their contacts criminals would find it harder to carry out business, which would make the Titans' job easier.

Cyborg frowned at Adam. "There's no way you can afford the tech for that suit. Who gave it to you."

"No one gave it to me."

"Well you certainly didn't buy it."

"Just throw me in jail all ready. I'm not givin' you any of my contacts."

"Tell us who you're associating with." Robin demanded, and the man spat at him. The Titan motioned towards the empath. "We can always get Raven to tell us."

He glanced warily at the dark titan. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I go into your head and force the information out of you." She answered.

"You can't do that." Adam said, though he didn't sound confident.

"Want me to prove it?"

"I bought it, okay?"

"From who?" Robin asked.

"X."

"The point of you not being able to afford it still stands." Cyborg pointed out. "How did you pay for it?"

"That's none of your – "

"Raven, if you could." Robin started to let go of the criminal, who's face instantly turned several shades paler, making the burn stand out more.

Words flew from Adam's mouth so quick they only just caught them. "Instalments! I'm paying in instalments. Just keep the witch away from me!"

Cyborg noticed the tight lipped smile his best friend was wearing in an attempt to smother his laughter, and had to hide a smile himself. They hadn't actually resorted to Raven using her telepathy so far, and weren't really planning it, however the threat was still working.

"Paying how? Cash?"

"Yeah. Cash. So much every month."

"When were you next supposed to meet up with him?"

"Next week. Friday, by the docks."

"What time?"

"10pm."

Robin nodded. "Raven, get Adonis to the police station. Tell them we want no media coverage, or announcement of his capture until after next Friday. Cyborg, go round and see if there are any reporters in the nearby area. If they've seen anything of this fight, tell them not to publish or write up anything. I don't care what reason you give them. Raven, I'll meet you at the police station."

The empath nodded, before moving next to Adam and wrapping him up in dark energy, disappearing through the floor with him, Cyborg turning off with Starfire and Beast Boy to help him, while Robin moved over to his R-Cycle.

Please Read! (Information for readers of my other stories)

As of this update, I will be discontinuing and re-writing all incompletestories ACCEPT FOR THIS ONE. Please find my reasons for my decision on my profile page, and please email me if you want a better explanation than the one there. Thanks :)

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.